The present disclosure relates to an air filter cleaner. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an air filter cleaner comprising both fluid flow and mechanical vibration cleaning mechanisms.
Air filters are used in a number of environments to separate dirt, dust and particulates from an incoming air flow. This is particularly important in fields such as vehicular transportation (e.g. trucks, cars and aircraft) where a clean flow of air into, for example, an internal combustion engine is required in order to ensure continued operation of the engine and prevent contaminants from entering the engine.
Such air filters operate as a particulate barrier. In other words, they are arranged to allow air molecules to pass therethrough whilst preventing the passage of particulates such as dirt and dust. Many air filters thus comprise a filter medium which may take the form of a semi-porous membrane or separation surface. Often, the filter is cylindrical with the membrane forming a pleated cylindrical separation surface.
The filter is placed such that the filter is located a flow path between the air inlet (which may be located on the front of a vehicle) and the inlet to the component to be kept dirt- and dust-free (e.g. the inlet manifold of an IC engine). Thus, dirty airflow enters an air inlet and passes through the filter, depositing dirt and dust thereon .The cleaned airflow then exits the filter and passes downstream thereof.
Since a particulate filter comprises a semi-porous separation surface, over time the pores of the filter will become blocked with separated dirt and dust. This increases the pressure drop across the filter and will, if unchecked, lead to the filter becoming completely blocked and unable to pass an airflow therethrough. Therefore, the filter requires replacement or cleaning
In many cases, a used air filter is simply replaced and the old filter thrown away. However, in some situations, it is possible to clean the air filters. Conventionally, this is done with compressed air alone, or compressed air in combination with sonic agitation to shake the dirt and dust free. However, these arrangements are cumbersome and expensive to use. Often, the size and expense of such equipment is prohibitive so it not practical to have on-site cleaning facilities at, for example, truck or bus depots. Instead, it is necessary for a user to send a dirty air filter to a remotely-located cleaning establishment to have the filter cleaned. This has obvious disadvantages in terms of delivery time and cost.
Alternative arrangements are known which employ a combination of high-pressure airflow and mechanical agitation. Examples of known arrangements are disclosed in WO 97/41945, U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,016, GB-A-1,539,720, GB-A-863,888, DE-A-19825616 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,783.
However, many of the above arrangements apply direct agitation to the pleats of the filter itself or strike the filter itself with hammers and equivalent striking mechanisms. This can lead to damage to the filter media. Furthermore, many of the above-disclosed arrangements are unsuitable for modern filter elements which comprise a pleated separation surface located within a cage element because they necessarily require unimpeded contact with the filter medium itself.